[MR] Heraldic Term of the Day - Border/Bordure

[Beverly Robinson-Curry]

Sorry gang, for not giving you nice heraldic tidbits lately.  I've been
suffering from the "too much work and not enough me".  Hasn't let up yet,
but I wanted to end the week with a new term.

 

>From _A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry_ by James Parker:

 

"Bordure, (fr.) or Border: this bearing, which is reckoned among the
sub-ordinaries, occupies one-fifth of the field. It is generally used as the
mark of a younger branch of a family. Charged bordures in ancient armoury
are supposed to allude to maternal descent. In some cases they are possibly
augmentations. It is, however, evident from the bordure being sometimes the
only charge in a coat, that it is a distinct and original bearing.

<snip>

 The bordure <http://www.heraldsnet.org/saitou/parker/Jpglossb.htm#Bordure>
is placed over all ordinaries, except the chief, the quarter, and the
canton, which invariably surmount it, with perhaps some few exceptions,
which are in such cases to be specially described."

 

Various borders can be seen here (along with other groovy heraldry stuff.):

http://www.rarebooks.nd.edu/digital/heraldry/charges/ordinaries.html

 

 

 

Rhiannon

 

Mistress Rhiannon ui Neill

Triton Principal Herald

House Corvus, Atlantia